Writing Centre Seminar
Writing and Study Skills Seminar
How to Take Great Notes
Rosie Gronthos
Welcome
I hope this talk will develop your note-taking
skills by providing you with useful strategies
to take efficient and accurate notes from
your readings and during lectures.
University of Adelaide
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Outline
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Why is note-taking an important skill?
Taking notes during lectures
Note-taking strategies for reading
Note taking abbreviations
Five Rs of Note-Taking
How to structure and maintain notes?
Mind Mapping
Useful Learning Guides
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Why is note-taking an important skill?
• Requires critical thinking and active listening
• Interactive activity
The purpose of your note-taking will determine
how you make notes.
NOTETAKING INVOLVES ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
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Taking notes during lectures
Make your notes brief
Use abbreviations and symbols but be consistent
Put most notes in your own words
Use outline form and/or a numbering system
If you miss a statement, write keywords, skip a
few spaces and get the information later
• Don't try to use every space on the page
• Date your notes and number the pages
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Ways to organise information in notes
• Give each lecture a title. Ask yourself, “What is
this all about?”
• Highlight headings and subheadings
• Indent information under the related heading
• Under headings and subheadings, list important
details with bullets, numbers/letters
• Use different note structuring techniques for
different kinds of material
• Make graphs and diagrams large enough to read
easily and label them
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Effective note-taking
The more you think about the lecture
(listen actively and take good notes)
the more you will understand.
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Note-taking strategies for reading
• Start with a thesis statement and only note the
main points
• Add your own comments in brackets to make
links with other readings
 What is the text actually saying?
 What is being assumed?
• Ask questions to prompt further thinking about
the topic
• Put direct quotes in quotation marks with the
page number
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Note-taking abbreviations
• Leave out most articles and conjunctions
(the, a, and, but)
• Shorten words by leaving out vowels/other
letters (word truncation)
• Use abbreviations/symbols for commonly
used words and phrases
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Examples of word truncations
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Ppl: people
res: research
natl: national
eqn: equation
ed: education
gov: government
dep: department
esp: especially
ustand: understand
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Common symbols and abbreviations
∵
because
∴
therefore OR consequently
+ & and OR plus
?
question OR doubt OR possibility
>
greater than
<
less than
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Note-taking tips
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Don't write down everything that you read/hear
Use keywords/short sentences
Take accurate notes
Think a minute about your material before you start
making notes
Use a punctuation & abbreviation system that makes sense
to you
Don't worry about missing a point
Keep orderly and clear notes
Shortly after making your notes go back and rework (not
redo) your notes
Review your notes regularly
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Save time on note-taking
DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!
As you make notes, you will develop skill in
selecting important material and in discarding
unimportant material.
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Importance of active listening
Use active listening skills when notetaking
The aim is to recall more information from
your lectures through active listening and
purposeful note-taking.
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Five Rs of Note-Taking
• Record
• Reduce
Summarising as you study helps to:
 Clarify meanings & relationships of ideas
 Reinforce continuity
 Strengthen memory retention
 Prepare for exams
• Recite
• Reflect
• Review
Pauk, W 1989 How to Study in College 4th edn Houghton Mifflin,
Boston, MA.
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How to structure and maintain notes?
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Make your notes brief
Abbreviate whenever possible
Put notes into your own words
Formulas, definitions & specific facts (use exact wording)
Number/indent items to distinguish between major &
minor points
Highlight unfamiliar terminology & unclear areas
Develop questions for your classmates /tutor to help
clarify concepts
If you miss something completely leave a blank space &
locate information later
Develop a coding system to mark your notes
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Mind Mapping
• Begin in the middle of the page
• Add ideas on branches that radiate from
the central idea or from previous branches
• Arrows and words can be used to show
links between parts of the concept map
• Colour and symbols help illustrate ideas
and trigger your own thoughts
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How to mind map?
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Useful Learning Guides
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Making Notes
Note-taking Abbreviations
Active Listening
Mind Mapping
Reading Effectively
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To sum up
• Note-taking is an interactive activity that
requires critical thinking
• Using abbreviations, keywords and symbols
will enable you to take notes more quickly
• Find your own method of taking notes by
developing your active listening and
purposeful note-taking skills
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For further thoughts
• Thank you. Are there any questions?
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